


Afterlife

by starkaryen



Category: American Gods (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Post Episode: s01e06: A Murder of Gods, Salim is the purest cinnamon roll, i think, maybe too much?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 08:56:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11123952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkaryen/pseuds/starkaryen
Summary: Salim finds the reason of his new life.





	Afterlife

**Author's Note:**

> This show is being even more of a blessing than I could've ever expected (and I expected a LOT), and this pairing, which I've loved since I read the book, has now taken my heart and soul with the show's expansion of their story. So, after the last episode I just had to write a little something.
> 
> It's a bit hard (at least for me) writing for a new fandom/characters/etc, and I'm also trying to overcome a pretty hard writer's block, so... I'm sorry if this is worse than usual. I tried! ^^

Before him, Salim’s life had been purposeless. It had been one thing that he _had_ to do after another, and another, and another. When he came to America, after the initial hope that everything would suddenly change for the better, that everything would make sense then, very soon he felt empty once again. This was supposed to be the capital of the free world, and yet he felt as caged inside himself as he had always felt; he spent hours working a shitty job, selling shitty things to shitty people. But then he went into that filthy, shabby taxi… and his whole life changed.  
It had been almost month, yet he could still feel the fire burning within him. He felt, for the first time, the desire and need of doing something, and not because others expected it or demanded it from him, but because he truly _wanted_ to. And after a month, after days and days of putting up with the Leprechaun and traveling with the dead woman, he was finally in front of a motel’s door. It was green, with a chipped 7 on it, but to him, it was the most amazing door he had ever seen. And yet, he had been standing there for five long minutes. His heart was racing inside his chest, and he remembered what Laura had told them, that her heart had beaten again when she had kissed Shadow. In a way, Salim had been the same; a dead man all his life, until he had touched the Jinn’s skin for the first time. And now that he was so close, his heart was impatient to feel completely alive again.  
With that thought, he finally gathered the courage to take a step forwards and knock on the door. Only a few seconds later, it swung open abruptly, almost in an irritated way, and the face that peeked out from behind confirmed it even if only for a second, because as soon as he saw Salim, his features changed completely.

“It’s you…” Salim said. The reason why it had taken him so long to finally decide to knock on the door was the last shred of doubt he had harbored. But now, he observed the man’s sunglasses and smiled. “It’s really you.”

“Salim…”

The door opened a bit more, and so did the Jinn’s mouth, hanging open in surprise. Salim arched his eyebrows, looking inside for a second.

“May I come in…?”

“Oh. Of course, yes.”

He stepped aside, and Salim walked in slowly. As soon as the door closed behind him, he looked around at the twin beds covered with two old, mismatched bedspreads, a desk of faded wooden color and a chair with a small bag on it and a very familiar blue jacket hanging on the back.

“Do you… want to sit?” the Jinn asked, and Salim turned to him.

He pointed at the edge of the bed and Salim considered it, but shook his head. And so they stood one in front of each other. Salim looked at the Jinn unashamed, taking in how different he looked with the white shirt and blue pants he had taken from Salim before leaving him his own clothes. The sunglasses, though, were exactly the same as the ones Salim owned now, and he wondered how many pairs did the Jinn own, exactly.

When the other cleared his throat, Salim focused on his features.

“What are you doing here…?”

“I have been looking for you,” Salim told him almost cheerfully. “At first alone, traveling in the direction of Mecca, hoping I would find you. Then I had help from a Leprechaun and a dead woman,” he added, and the Jinn frowned, but immediately shook his head, as if he knew that sort of crazy things just happened sometimes.

“But why…?”  
"You left," Salim said, as if it was obvious.  
"I didn't think you'd want to see me again after… that night. I told you, I do not grant wishes.”

“And I told you… you _did_. You gave me a new life, and I never got a chance to say thank you.”

The Jinn’s lips turned upwards in a little smile, his shoulders relaxing at the same time.

“It is not a very good life, though. The taxi is a piece of shit, and-”  
"I am not talking about the taxi. Or the sweater," Salim half joked. But when he looked at the Jinn again, he was completely serious again. "You gave me freedom, that is true. But you gave me something much better; you showed me what love is.”

Salim saw how the Jinn’s brow twitched in surprise; he looked down and let out a long, silent breath.

“I am not an idiot, I know we barely know each other. But I want to know you, and if-”

“You should not love me,” the Jinn interrupted him then, yet it didn’t sound like a rejection; his voice was drenched in anguish.

Salim stayed still for a second, and then he took a step towards him. That made the Jinn look up again; from behind the sunglasses, Salim could’ve sworn he glimpsed the flames in his eyes, but perhaps that was an illusion, a trick his mind was playing, since he knew the beauty that lay behind them, and he longed to see it again.

“Why I should not?”

“I am not a man,” the Jinn said.

“I do not care…” Salim answered in a whisper, taking another step.

“I am not a god, either. I am something in between, and nothing.”

Salim stopped right in front of the Jinn, so close that he could almost touch the back of the man’s hand with his own, his skin feeling electric already.

Salim raised both hands and he carefully and slowly took the Jinn’s sunglasses, giving him enough time to move away. But he stayed still, and Salim took the sunglasses off of him completely. The Jinn’s eyes were closed in that moment, his lips open to let out his uneven breathing. Salim threw the glasses on one of the beds, and the Jinn’s eyes finally opened, the flames coming alive between his eyelids. Once again, Salim felt tiny and glorious at the view; he was contemplating the most beautiful thing he had even seen, and once again, he felt his heart beating quickly when he took the Jinn’s face in his hands, smiling as he felt his eyes watery.

“I do not care about what you are… I only care about _who_ you are.”

The Jinn let out quiet sigh, and Salim leaned in to press his forehead against the other’s, dying to kiss him, but waiting for the Jinn to react. And after a moment, he felt it; the Jinn’s hands on Salim’s back, pulling their bodies closer. Salim let out a relieved chuckle as he finally tilted his head and closed the distance between them.

When their lips touched, Salim felt the fire inside him, burning even more intensely; he felt the fire that had led him to _him_ , the fire that had awakened him after a dormant life… and it felt like love.

****

His eyes fluttered open as he inhaled through his nose, stretching his legs until his feet were hanging out of the bed. He rolled on the mattress as he did the same with his arms, but he suddenly remembered where he was, so he sat up quickly, his hands grasping the sheets; he was completely alone in the motel room.

Salim got up and quickly put on his shoes; he was still dressed in the same clothes as the day before, since they hadn’t done nothing more than kissing and sleeping together in a single bed that was entirely too small and uncomfortable, though neither of them wanted to sleep any other way. But now he was alone, and as he looked around, he didn’t see any sign of the Jinn’s possessions.

“No, no…”

In that moment, the door opened and the Jinn walked in with two plastic cups of coffee in his hand. Salim looked at him wide-eyed as he closed the door behind him.

“Good morning,” the Jinn said, but frowned when he turned to him. “Something wrong?”

“Morning,” Salim answered, and then he shook his head. “No, I… Well. I feared you had left again.”  


The Jinn set the coffee on the desk along with his sunglasses, and the blue jacket on the back of the chair, exactly as it had been the day before. When he approached Salim, he couldn’t help to feel a little breathless; Salim doubted he would _ever_ get completely used to how magnificent the Jinn was and to the tickling sensation he caused in him.

That time, it was the Jinn the one who took Salim’s face in his hands in a careful, light touch.

“I am not going anywhere without you,” the Jinn told him.

Salim felt a tear rolling down his cheek, but the Jinn leaned in and kissed the tear away. Salim smiled widely then; an honest and happy smile, unlike those from his previous life.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it!
> 
> felineladyy drew [this cute art](http://felineladyy.tumblr.com/post/161568115929/salim-raised-both-hands-and-he-carefully-and) based on the fic!! :') 
> 
> \----
> 
> All information + links about my writing are [here](https://about.me/mizumohno).
> 
> Say hello to me @ [twitter](https://twitter.com/mizumohno) and [tumblr](http://starkaryen.tumblr.com/) :)


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